New stadium construction hits one-year mark

Groundbreaking for the Vikings new stadium was one year ago and it’s 29 percent complete.

The Vikings are down to their final two games of their first season at TCF Bank Stadium, but Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the start of construction on the new Vikings stadium.

As one would imagine, the construction and digging of the footprint of the new stadium began while the Vikings were still playing in the Metrodome. It was on Dec. 3, 2013 the groundbreaking took place for the Vikings, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority and Mortenson Construction. A lot has been accomplished in those 12 months.

According to MSFA documents proclaiming the achievements of the project, more than 200 Minnesota companies have been involved in the project, which represents 78 percent of the total construction to date. Workers have provided 613,000 work hours and have the project on schedule for completion.

Anyone who has driven by the stadium or watched the time-lapse images of the stadium progress, it’s clear that we’ve come a long way since men in suits and unnatural looking hard hats with golden shovels moved five pounds of dirt. A lot has happened since then.

With 60 percent of the concrete poured, the final product that will rise on the Minneapolis skyline has made enough believers that, before it has even been completed, it has locked down being the venue for the 2018 Super Bowl and 2019 Final Four NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

As the Vikings get ready for the Jets Sunday, it seems like a long time since they’ve been displaced from their home of more than 30 years. It seems like a long time until they will return to their permanent home. But a year after men with $200 ties slide ceremonials shovels into pre-prepared ground, the gap in between the move out and the move back is getting closer all the time.

THURSDAY NOTES

Adrian Peterson’s appeal hearing will reconvene today with Troy Vincent, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, testifying about allegations he told Peterson if he appeared at the hearing in which he was advised not to attend, his suspension would have been commuted to time served and two games, which, if interpreted literally, would make him available next week to play. The arbitrator in the case, Harold Henderson, has asked the two sides to try to negotiate a deal before he has to rule on the case. Peterson will not attend this hearing, according to the Associated Press.

The Jets are expected to be without one of their top defensive players Sunday. Defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson missed the first game of his four-year pro career last Sunday with a turf toe injury and, while he hasn’t officially been ruled out, the Jets are planning to go into Sunday’s game with the Vikings without him. At 2-10, there’s little reason for either the Jets or Wilkerson to push too hard to get him on the field.